Web 2.0

As a learner, I've found that the best way for me to study - to understand and internalize - a concept was to organize all the important information in a manner that flowed naturally, all the while fitting together to support the main idea. I utilized study method in my undergraduate years, creating concept maps by hand that were color coded, succinctly labeled, and properly sequenced. This took a great deal of time, as I made mistakes through the learning process. Which made me wonder, if only there was a way to do this on the computer, where I can adjust the size of text boxes to appropriately fit all the ideas and information while creating something that visually supported my learning. Popplet is a web application (also available as an iOS app) that essentially performs this job. Popplet has an easy to use interface, which is appealing to users of all ages. I could see this being useful for students, especially students with learning disabilities, in analyzing and evaluating information, piecing together parts of a whole to support comprehension. Additionally, this tool allows... drumroll please... real-time collaboration so that students can support each other in creating concept maps. It would be really great to also print these maps out and use student-created classroom charts throughout units to further support their learning.

Finally, Stixy is another useful real-time collaborative tool, essentially serving as a bulletin board for projects. With this tool, students can post their ideas, support their ideas with uploaded images, documents, and to-do lists. Stixy can serve as a sounding board for ideas, as well as planning and managing next steps in creating a final product. Personally, it reminds me of my desk when I'm working on a final paper, where I can place notes, reading materials, to-do lists, etc., in strategic spots, but then it also has the potential as the ideas build to become a semi-organized mess. It would be important, especially when other people are collaborating on a Stixy board, to maintain some sort of order so that the bulletin board will make sense.

Ultimately, I adore tools that allow me to make sense of a complicated problem/concept. It breaks information down to it's pieces, all the while maintaining the bigger picture. The recent Showtime drama, Homeland, utilizes an amazing concept map, as depicted in the picture below.

Color-coded and everything. Organization is the key to success.